


She, a Beauty!

by KatherineRose2000



Category: Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:46:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27131998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatherineRose2000/pseuds/KatherineRose2000
Summary: (A short history of Elizabeth Bennet’s reputed looks.)
Relationships: Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy
Comments: 14
Kudos: 143





	She, a Beauty!

If there was any doubt as to Elizabeth Bennet possessing superior features, it was through the primary fault of being born second child to a golden beauty, for, in truth, she was not nothing to look at. 

Her mother lamented when she was a little girl, early on enough for her not to have given any thought to the issue before that very moment, “Dear me! Mr. Bennet, _your_ daughter most assuredly takes her looks from your side of the family!” She tsk-ed as she eyed disapprovingly at Elizabeth’s tanned face and bare feet. Mrs. Bennet had always been a vain woman. 

She rested her hands, one beneath, one atop her protruding stomach. “This son of ours will surely make the matter irrelevant, but my! — It does not bode well!” 

When the lady had left the room, Elizabeth’s child eyes held in them confused tears. Her mother did not think her pretty? 

“Come here, Lizzie,” her father bade softly. She did as requested and soon she was settled on his knee. “Do you know what this is?” he asked her, holding up a little looking glass from his desk drawer. “It is a pretty little lady. In fact, what makes her so pretty is her mind, her liveliness, and her wit. Her capacity for understanding and for good. Her father, for one, thinks her the most beautiful of all. But of course, you must not tell Mama this.” He winked at her and sent her off happily to play.

*

In adolescence Elizabeth Bennet could not help but notice the attention paid to her by the Lucas boys, and a fair few of the four and twenty families of the neighborhood that had sons of her age. Jane’s beauty was unmatched, but it was the second eldest’s lively talents that captivated. It was then that Elizabeth first learned her particular appeal; Her father was right - a woman’s beauty lay in her abilities. 

*

By her coming out ball at sixteen (for all the Bennet women came into society young) Elizabeth was well aware of her effect on the opposite sex. She danced and laughed and made merry with good grace, well aware of her power and the responsibility that came with it. No, she would not abuse it; she simply liked people, and they liked her. 

Her reputation as a beauty and diamond of the country was well solidified within her second year, and she had no reason to repine her sister’s golden head.

*

Perhaps it was her mother’s voice, in her father’s study all those years ago, that had made their mark. There was no other reason for a certain unpleasant gentleman’s words to strike so deeply in her, with all the many proofs assuring her to the general opinion otherwise.

_“She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me.”_

She laughed at the speech, but it was a cruel laugh, a bitter chime, quickly covered by a character naturally disposed to good humour. 

Hadn't that just always been the way? She was tolerable, but nothing in comparison to Jane. She could not hate her sister or feel any good-natured resentment toward her; Jane, all benevolence and sweetness, deserved to be beautiful if anyone did. 

However, the sentiment was too keenly felt, for although Elizabeth could tell herself that her wit was enough to see her through, on first appearances she had not impressed.

*

Caroline Bingley smiled a wry, cutting smile, full of knowing condescension and superiority. Dressed to advantage in all that her arts and allurements could concoct, her eyes slid over Elizabeth’s petticoat, six inches deep in mud with feline satisfaction. Elizabeth could not but smile slyly and curtsey back. Her and Mr. Darcy would make a handsome, perfectly repugnant couple. Did this woman honestly believe that she could harm her more than her own mother already had? No, Elizabeth was impervious, and had naught to do but laugh.

*

That Mr. Darcy looked only to see a blemish was a particular annoyance for our heroine. Fortunately, the lady had a high tolerance for the ridiculous. The gentleman, of course, was hard to laugh at, which is why she must hate him, but the situation itself was ridiculous indeed! That he should be so fixated on her faults as to watch her constantly _was_ singular, to be sure.

Accordingly, she ridiculed and retold all to her father, who found it to be a great joke. In another case, or as with another father, this must only serve to worsen the slight; but Mr. Bennet was not another father, and his laughing only seemed to say how stupid the man must be, for who could pass up his most quick witted and beautiful daughter?

Elizabeth was satisfied.

*

“My beauty you had early withstood,” she had teased her betrothed early on in one of their rambling escapes in the park. Of course now her husband would hear of no such thing, and blamed only his hubris for the slight and not at all her appearances.

“Oh, do not spare me,” she replied sweetly, “Caroline Bingley was most enlightening as to your first opinions of me.”

The blood drained from his face. “Indeed. She was?”

Elizabeth laughed merrily. “Not with words, dearest. She used other means of communication, which I dare say were just as effective.” 

“Do not remind me,” he muttered.

*

(Of course no one would so much as breath a sound against Mrs. Darcy, but even if silently some were surprised at their neighbor and master’s choice in wife, the confusion was quickly dispelled, for you see, she had only been seen from a far distance at first, and therefore a common head of blackish curls was all that could be made out. On further enquiry however, a pair of glimmering eyes could be seen, and an expressive brow and mobile smile made the face singularly bewitching. Yes, they all agreed, Mr. Darcy had done well for himself; Mrs. Darcy was a beauty of the first sort.)

  
  



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